NASA-HDBK-4002A, NASA TECHNICAL HANDBOOK: MITIGATING IN-SPACE CHARGING EFFECTS - A GUIDELINE (03 MAR 2011)

NASA-HDBK-4002A, NASA TECHNICAL HANDBOOK: MITIGATING IN-SPACE CHARGING EFFECTS - A GUIDELINE (03 MAR 2011)., This Handbook is intended to describe conditions under which spacecraft charging might be an issue, generally explain why the problem exists, list typical design solutions, and provide an introduction to the process by which design specifics should be resolved. This document is also intended to be an engineering tool, and is written at the graduate engineering level for use by aerospace engineers, system designers, program managers, and others concerned with space environment effects on spacecraft. Much of the environmental data and material response information has been adapted from published and unpublished scientific literature for use in this document. It is not possible to place all the necessary knowledge into one document to be used as a cookbook; therefore, this document should be used as a preliminary reference and/or checklist only, primarily to identify if spacecraft charging is an issue for a particular mission. Spacecraft charging, defined as the buildup of charge in and on spacecraft materials, is a significant phenomenon for spacecraft in certain Earth and other planetary environments. Design for control and mitigation of surface charging, the buildup of charge on the exterior surfaces of a spacecraft related to space plasmas, was treated in detail in NASA TP-2361, Design Guidelines for Assessing and Controlling Spacecraft Charging Effects (1984). Design for control and mitigation of internal charging, the buildup of charge on the interior parts of a spacecraft from higher energy particles, was treated in detail in the original version of NASA-HDBK-4002, Avoiding Problems Caused by Spacecraft On-Orbit Internal Charging Effects (1999). NASA-HDBK-4002 was written as a companion document to NASA TP-2361. Since the original writing of the two documents, there have been developments in the understanding of spacecraft charging issues and mitigation solutions, as well as advanced technologies needing new mitigation solutions. That, and the desire to merge the two documents, was the motivation for this revision. As in the heritage documents, the story still has unfinished business, and the proper way to address design issues for a specific satellite is to have skilled electrostatic discharge-(ESD-) knowledgeable engineers as part of the design team for those programs and missions where space charging is an issue. This Handbook documents engineering guidelines and design practices to be used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other spacecraft designers to minimize the detrimental effects of spacecraft surface and internal charging in certain space environments. Section 4 contains space charging/ESD background and orientation; section 5 contains design guidelines; and section 6 contains spacecraft test techniques. The appendices contain a collection of useful material intended to support the main body of the document, including a set of generic design requirements.